 "The Tragedy of Mariam" was most likely not written to be performed but to be read silently or aloud in a private circle.Because it was not intended for the stage, much of the action in the play is described through dialogue rather than shown.Some critics believe that closet plays like "Mariam" allowed women to exercise a form of agency without disrupting the patriarchal social order, and that they were able to "use closet activity to participate directly in the theater".